52 pages • 1 hour read
Mark LawrencePrince of Thorns
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
On the Lichway, the rain falters and the other spirits disperse. Jorg and Makin fish some of the brothers out of the marsh. Jorg releases Father Gomst and takes him with them.
After hearing Jorg’s confession, Gomst proclaims him a “devil” and an “abomination.” When Gomst asks what Jorg wants with him, Jorg tells him that he needs a priest to give him his blessing.
Instead of continuing to the Horse Coast as planned, Jorg directs the brothers towards the Tall Castle, ostensibly to return Father Gomst. As they set off, Jorg is surprised to discover that he is still afraid of his father, whom they will soon see at the Tall Castle.
Chapter 7 Summary
The party comes to the village of Norwood, which has just been burnt by Count Renar’s men. The bodies have all been taken elsewhere, and Makin notes that Renar burns prisoners together with the dead.
Jorg asks Gomst how he was captured, and Gomst says that he was in the village of Jessop. Jorg intuits that Gomst is hiding something and forces Gomst to admit that he was in Jessop on the orders of Jorg’s father, King Olidan, to see if Jorg’s corpse had washed ashore there. Gomst says that Olidan’s new wife is pregnant with a boy and that Olidan needed to know if Jorg was still alive in order to confirm the succession.
Rike is once again angry that the town has so little loot, but Jorg is able to mollify him once more, this time by finding the town’s cache of festival beer. Jorg reveals that it is his 14th birthday.
Chapter 8 Summary
Jorg and Rike sip beer together, as Jorg explains the situation to him. Jorg intends to reunite the old Empire under his rule. Makin returns from scouting. He has found the pyre made by Renar’s men—Makin estimates them to be a hundred strong—but it hasn’t been lit yet.
Jorg lies, telling the men that Makin reports 20 bandits loaded with loot heading their way. Jorg proposes to ambush the bandits and sets the men to digging trip-pits and placing themselves in hiding spots. Makin is confused but goes along with Jorg’s deception.
Renar’s men start to appear a few hours after. Knowing that Renar’s men burn the dead and that the only fuel around is peat bog, Jorg has correctly guessed that Renar’s men will return with more bodies to make a combined pyre. Jorg sees a knight whom he correctly guesses to be one of Renar’s sons.
Jorg steps forward waving a white flag and identifying himself as a noble. When he is close enough to Renar’s son, Marclos, Jorg nimbly hops onto Marclos’s horse and stabs Marclos in the eye. He rides the horse into town, drawing Renar’s men into the ambush.
Jorg rallies the brothers, telling them that, since he has killed Marclos, Renar’s men will not want to return to Renar out of fear of punishment. If the brothers can hit them hard enough, they will break and run. He is proven correct, and the greatly outnumbered Brothers drive off Renar’s house-troops.
Chapter 9 Summary
The scene shifts back to four years earlier. Jorg has recovered from his wounds and is being instructed by his tutor, Lundist. Jorg says that he only wants to learn about the Renar highlands and that he cannot wait to join his father’s troops when they attack Renar. Lundist advises him to let go of hatred but, despite being tempted, Jorg cannot.
Jorg asks Lundist when his father’s army will march. Lundist replies that they will not. King Olidan has accepted compensation from Renar for the assassination instead of seeking vengeance. Jorg is enraged. Lundist takes Jorg out of the classroom to calm down, but Jorg is already planning some other means of taking his revenge on Renar.
Chapters 6-9 Analysis
In Chapters 6-9 Jorg’s path bends away from his life on the road as an outlaw and back towards Ancrath and his former life as a prince. Significantly, he chooses to change his destination just after being blessed by Gomst, almost as if the blessing has loosened some diabolical hold over Jorg.
His decision to return to Ancrath brings him an opportunity to kill some of Renar’s men, including the count’s heir, Marclos. Moreover, Jorg’s success in leading his Brothers to defeat a force almost 10 times larger begins to establish a legend for himself that will serve him in his drive to reunite the empire under his rule. Jorg’s ambush of Marclos while parleying with him under a flag of truce shows his utter indifference to any moral code; he is willing to do or say anything to reach his goals.
The flashback to Jorg’s discussion with Tutor Lundist provides insight into Jorg’s indifference to norms of feudal lordship and chivalrous behavior. That code of conduct has allowed his father to decline to punish Renar militarily, and Jorg refuses to accept that decision.
